Welcome Back
by Exotos135
Summary: Maggie and her mother wait for the return of a special someone on the Royal Woods Airport. Someone who Maggie has been waiting to see again for years...


It was snowing in the city of Royal Woods, and at the city's airport, a certain emo teenager sat on the front row seats, dressed for the winter and carrying the purple sweater she usually had tied around her waist on her hands. She took a look at the sweater, paying no attention to the people that walked by her. That was, until a familiar voice said:

"Everything okay, sweetie?"

The emo hid the sweater and turned to look at the source of the voice, which was none other than her mother. Upon seeing her, she took a deep breath to calm down, and then answered, "Yeah, everything's okay. At least, until he returns."

"You're waiting anxiously to meet your former boyfriend again, aren't you?" Maggie's mother inquired.

"Mom, you know how things happened: We didn't manage to stay together long enough to be considered boyfriend and girlfriend," the emo took out the sweater and hugged it. "Specially given the troubles with his family."

"Right, sorry that I brought that up, sweetie," Maggie's mother brushed her daughter's hair to comfort her. "Still, it says something that you still cherish the sweater that boy gave you years ago. What was his name again?"

Maggie's eyes shined as she glanced at the sweater, and then took out a picture of a younger Maggie, sitting next to a younger version of...

"Hugh..."

 _A long time ago..._

A younger Maggie and a younger Hugh sat on a bench, with the girl sitting on the guy's lap. Quite notably, although Maggie looked like a child, Hugh looked like a teenager at best. Not only that, but he seemed worried about something.

"I'm really sorry about what happened between our families," Hugh said, brushing his head as Maggie started shivering. "I didn't think they would be so... blunt and harsh in saying why we couldn't... you know..."

Then, he heard someone sniff, and of course, it was none other than Maggie, who tried to hold back her tears as she said:

"Mommy... mommy tried... but your dad... and your mom... why did they say those things?"

"Again, they can be quite harsh and blunt when they want to get a point across," Hugh brushed Maggie's hair in an attempt to comfort her. "And more often than not, they're usually worse than what you saw right there, so consider yourself lucky."

This didn't stop the girl from sniffing and looking like she was getting even closer to the point of crying. Noticing this, Hugh put the girl on the ground and took off his sweater, but don't worry, he did have a shirt underneath it.

"I think I know a way to help you remember me, even if we're miles apart from each other," Hugh said as he crouched down and looked at Maggie's eyes. "You can use this sweater so you can feel like I'm hugging or being close to you, even though I'm not really there."

Hugh handed the sweater to Maggie, who tried to put it on... only to find it was a bit too big for her.

"Hmm... I know, let me try something."

The guy grabbed the sweater and tied it around Maggie's waist. It still looked kinda big, but at least it wasn't basically hugging the ground.

"There, that's a bit better," Hugh then brushed Maggie's hair. "I'll show you how to tie it yourself the week before I leave. Just remember, as long as you wear this sweater around your waist, it will be like I was right there with you."

Maggie grabbed the tied sweater and took a quick look at it before she turned to Hugh, sporting a wide, grateful smile before she hugged the guy as tightly as she could, and exclaimed:

"I love you, Hugh!"

Though hesitant to reply, once he looked at his surroundings and verified there was nobody else around, Hugh smiled, returned the hug, and answered:

"I love you too, Maggie."

 _Back in the present..._

A pair of tears hit the picture, and these tears came from none other than Maggie herself, who now smiled in pure bliss and joy.

"I still can't believe he's finally coming back," Maggie sniffed. "It's been so long... will he be able to recognize me?"

"I'm pretty sure he'll recognize you without any issues," Maggie's mother answered, brushing her daughter's hair. "I mean, you grew bigger, and you're a little bit leaner, but I'm pretty sure there's nothing about your appearance that has changed to the point it would be hard for Hugh to see you're the same Maggie from his youth."

"You're nervous too, aren't you, mom?" Maggie scoffed. "You're usually this wordy whenever you're nervous."

The woman sighed and chuckled. "Can you blame me? My daughter's very first, way older boyfriend is coming back, and I never even got to meet him before he left."

Maggie smiled and stiffled a laugh, before she and her mother noticed a particular airplane landing down. And if their intuition was anything to go by, this was the airplane where Hugh was at. So, with fear and worry surging through her body, Maggie clung the sweater as hard as she could, and tried to hold herself back as she watched several people come out of the plane, but with no Hugh in sight.

"Don't worry, darling, I'm sure he'll come out eventually," Maggie's Mother said as she brushed her daughter's hair to comfort her. "We just need to be patient, that's all."

Maggie just clutched the sweater even harder and hugged herself. She then closed her eyes and waited for everything pass...

But then, someone whistled in the distance, bringing the girl back to reality. And there he was, in the distance: Hugh, wearing winter clothes, and waving at the duo with a wide smile.

Without thinking, Maggie got off her seat, bolted straight to the man, and hugged him as tightly as she could before crying on his chest in sheer joy. And Hugh... was pretty calm about it.

"I missed you too, you edgy crybaby," Hugh chuckled as he brushed Maggie's hair affectionately. "Tell me, how have you been?"

"Troubled, conflicted, not sure whether I could continue on living after we were cruelly separated," Maggie sniffed and smiled. "And when I realized that I'd have a chance to meet you again, I've had trouble sleeping every night, knowing that we would see each other again, my star crossed love!"

Hugh rolled his eyes. "Okay, that's nice and all, but for real, how have you been?"

The emo wiped off her tears and sniffed. "F-Fine... but just barely... without you by my side, it's been difficult going through life."

"I find that hard to believe," Hugh chuckled, though he stopped when Maggie threw a crying look at him. "I mean, surely there must've been some people who tried to make you happy, for good or worse. Haven't you met people like that?"

The emo girl thought about it, then looked down and tightened the hug as she bluntly answered, "Yes... but you're the only who genuinely wanted to see me happy. Everybody else seemed to do it just to get a paycheck or something. None of them felt like... they cared about me."

Maggie smiled again and rubbed herself against Hugh. "But you were different, and I'm grateful for that."

And then the guy spotted Maggie's Mother walking towards them, and he tried to stay calm.

"Good evening, Mrs..." Hugh greeted, only to find himself in a stump mere seconds later. "Sorry, I don't think I ever managed to figure out your last name before I left."

"It's okay, most people don't really ask," Maggie's Mother answered. "Our family name's Lopez."

"Maggie Lopez," Hugh repeated as Maggie separated from him and went back to her mother. "Now that has a nice ring to it. I'm glad you came out lucky in the naming department."

"Thanks," Maggie blushed and played with her hair. "Now that you mention it, though, what do you mean I got lucky? Is there something wrong with your name?"

Hugh sighed and answered, "My full name's Hugh Pain."

Maggie stiffled a laughter, though at least she looked elsewhere to make it look like a sneeze. Hugh wasn't fooled, however.

"Yeah, people tend to laugh at it whenever they hear it the first time," the man sighed and brushed Maggie's hair. "However, if it makes you feel happy, I don't mind it when you do it. Really, anything that makes you happy, makes me happy."

And then Hugh noticed Maggie was holding his sweater. "I see you still kept that sweater years later."

"Yup, I've had tied to my waist every day since the day we were separated," Maggie twiddled her fingers nervously. "You know, so it felt like you were with me all the time. But, I can give it back if-"

"Keep it," Hugh stated. "I got several other sweaters in my wardrobe, so losing one Isn't a big loss. Besides, what did I just say?"

Maggie smiled. "What makes me happy, makes you happy."

"Well, this is quite a cute reunion we got here," Maggie's mother, Mrs. Lopez, remarked, getting the duo's attention. "However, I don't think the airport is the best place to talk about stuff, and I'm sure both of you have a lot to talk about. How about we go back to our house? I can treat you to some hot chocolate, too."

"That sounds pretty nice," Hugh shook hands with Mrs. Lopez. "I'd love to go to your house and spend time with you and Maggie. Mostly Maggie."

"And I'm sure Maggie would be more than happy to have you at our home," Mrs. Lopez answered, then turned to her daughter. "So, should we go back?"

Maggie rapidly nodded with a wide smile on her face. With that established, Mrs. Lopez lead the way back to her house, all while Maggie grabbed Hugh's arm, and rubbed her head against his shoulder. Hugh took a look at this action, smiled, and thought:

" _It's good to be back._ "


End file.
